[Introduced March 13, 2013; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on Finance .]

____________

A BILL to amend and reenact §18B-10-1 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to a per-credit-hour tuition
demonstration pilot project.Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18B-10-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:ARTICLE 10. FEES AND OTHER MONEY COLLECTED AT STATE INSTITUTIONS
OF HIGHER EDUCATION.
§18B-10-1. Enrollment, tuition and other fees at education
institutions; refund of fees. (a) Each governing board shall fix tuition and other fees for
each academic term for the different classes or categories of
students enrolling at the state institution of higher education
under its jurisdiction and may include among the tuition and fees any one or more of the following as defined in section one-b of
this article:
(1) Tuition and required educational and general fees;
(2) Auxiliary and auxiliary capital fees; and
(3) Required educational and general capital fees.
(b) A governing board may establish a single special revenue
account for each of the following classifications of fees:
(1) All tuition and required educational and general fees
collected;
(2) All auxiliary and auxiliary capital fees collected; and
(3) All required educational and general capital fees
collected to support existing systemwide and institutional debt
service and future systemwide and institutional debt service,
capital projects and campus renewal for educational and general
facilities.
(4) Subject to any covenants or restrictions imposed with
respect to revenue bonds payable from the accounts, a governing
board may expend funds from each special revenue account for any
purpose for which funds were collected within that account
regardless of the original purpose for which the funds were
collected.
(c) The purposes for which tuition and fees may be expended
include, but are not limited to, health services, student
activities, recreational, athletic and extracurricular activities. Additionally, tuition and fees may be used to finance a students'
attorney to perform legal services for students in civil matters at
the institutions. The legal services are limited to those types of
cases, programs or services approved by the president of the
institution where the legal services are to be performed.
(d) By October 1, 2011, the commission and council each shall
propose a rule for legislative approval in accordance with article
three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to govern the fixing,
collection and expenditure of tuition and other fees by the
governing boards under their respective jurisdictions.
(e) The schedule of all tuition and fees, and any changes in
the schedule, shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting of the
appropriate governing board and the board shall file with the
commission or council, or both, as appropriate, and the Legislative
Auditor a certified copy of the schedule and changes.
(f) The governing boards shall establish the rates to be
charged full-time students, as defined in section one-b of this
article, who are enrolled during a regular academic term.
(1) Undergraduate students taking fewer than twelve credit
hours in a regular term shall have their fees reduced pro rata
based upon one twelfth of the full-time rate per credit hour and
graduate students taking fewer than nine credit hours in a regular
term shall have their fees reduced pro rata based upon one ninth of
the full-time rate per credit hour.
(2) Fees for students enrolled in summer terms or other
nontraditional time periods shall be prorated based upon the number
of credit hours for which the student enrolls in accordance with
this subsection.(3) In order to implement a per-credit hour tuition
demonstration pilot project, community college students at Pierpont
Community & Technical College taking more than twelve credit hours
in a regular term will be assessed for each additional credit hour
based on the one-twelfth calculation set out in subdivision (1) of
this subsection.
(g) All fees are due and payable by the student upon
enrollment and registration for classes except as provided in this
subsection:
(1) The governing boards shall permit fee payments to be made
in installments over the course of the academic term. All fees
shall be paid prior to awarding course credit at the end of the
academic term.
(2) The governing boards also shall authorize the acceptance
of credit cards or other payment methods which may be generally
available to students for the payment of fees. The governing
boards may charge the students for the reasonable and customary
charges incurred in accepting credit cards and other methods of
payment.
(3) If a governing board determines that a student's finances are affected adversely by a legal work stoppage, it may allow the
student an additional six months to pay the fees for any academic
term. The governing board shall determine on a case-by-case basis
whether the finances of a student are affected adversely.
(4) The commission and council jointly shall propose a rule in
accordance with article three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
defining conditions under which a governing board may offer tuition
and fee deferred payment plans itself or through third parties.
(5) A governing board may charge interest or fees for any
deferred or installment payment plans.
(h) In addition to the other fees provided in this section,
each governing board may impose, collect and distribute a fee to be
used to finance a nonprofit, student-controlled public interest
research group if the students at the institution demonstrate
support for the increased fee in a manner and method established by
that institution's elected student government. The fee may not be
used to finance litigation against the institution.
(i) Governing boards shall retain tuition and fee revenues not
pledged for bonded indebtedness or other purposes in accordance
with the tuition rules proposed by the commission and council
pursuant to this section. The tuition rules shall address the
following areas:
(1) Providing a basis for establishing nonresident tuition and
fees;
(2) Allowing governing boards to charge different tuition and
fees for different programs;
(3) Authorizing a governing board to propose to the
commission, council or both, as appropriate, a mandatory auxiliary
fee under the following conditions:
(A) The fee shall be approved by the commission, council or
both, as appropriate, and either the students below the senior
level at the institution or the Legislature before becoming
effective;
(B) Increases may not exceed previous state subsidies by more
than ten percent;
(C) The fee may be used only to replace existing state funds
subsidizing auxiliary services such as athletics or bookstores;
(D) If the fee is approved, the amount of the state subsidy
shall be reduced annually by the amount of money generated for the
institution by the fees. All state subsidies for the auxiliary
services shall cease five years from the date the mandatory
auxiliary fee is implemented;
(E) The commission or council or both, as appropriate, shall
certify to the Legislature annually by October 1 the amount of fees
collected for each of the five years;
(4) Establishing methodology, where applicable, to ensure
that, within the appropriate time period under the compact,
community and technical college tuition rates for students in all community and technical colleges will be commensurate with the
tuition and fees charged by their peer institutions.
(j) A penalty may not be imposed by the commission or council
upon any governing board based upon the number of nonresidents who
attend the institution unless the commission or council determines
that admission of nonresidents to any institution or program of
study within the institution is impeding unreasonably the ability
of resident students to attend the institution or participate in
the programs of the institution. The governing boards shall report
annually to the commission or council on the numbers of
nonresidents and any other enrollment information the commission or
council may request.
(k) Tuition and fee increases of the governing boards,
including the governing boards of Marshall University and West
Virginia University, are subject to rules adopted by the commission
and council pursuant to this section and in accordance with article
three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. The commission or
council, as appropriate, shall examine individually each request
from a governing board for an increase and make its determinations
as follows:
(1) A tuition and fee increase greater than five percent for
resident students proposed by a governing board requires the
approval of the commission or council, as appropriate.
(2) A fee used solely for the purpose of complying with the athletic provisions of 20 U.S.C. 1681, et seq., known as Title IX
of the Education Amendment of 1972, is exempt from the limitations
on fee increases set forth in this subsection for three years from
the effective date of the section.
(3) In determining whether to approve or deny a governing
board's request for a tuition and/or fee increase for resident
students greater than the increases granted pursuant to subdivision
(1) of this subsection, the commission or council shall determine
the progress the governing board has made toward meeting the
conditions outlined in this subsection and shall make this
determination the predominate factor in its decision. The
commission or council shall consider the degree to which each
governing board has met the following conditions:
(A) Maximizes resources available through nonresident tuition
and fee charges to the satisfaction of the commission or council;
(B) Consistently achieves the benchmarks established in the
compact pursuant to article one-d of this chapter;
(C) Continuously pursues the statewide goals for post-
secondary education and the statewide compact established in this
chapter;
(D) Demonstrates to the satisfaction of the commission or
council that an increase will be used to maintain high-quality
programs at the institution;
(E) Demonstrates to the satisfaction of the commission or council that the governing board is making adequate progress toward
achieving the goals for education established by the southern
regional education board;
(F) Demonstrates to the satisfaction of the commission or
council that the governing board has considered the average per
capita income of West Virginia families and their ability to pay
for any increases; and
(G) Demonstrates to the satisfaction of the commission or
council that base appropriation increases have not kept pace with
recognized nation-wide inflationary benchmarks;
(4) This section does not require equal increases among
governing boards nor does it require any level of increase by a
governing board.
(5) The commission and council shall report to the Legislative
Oversight Commission on Education Accountability regarding the
basis for approving or denying each request as determined using the
criteria established in this subsection.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to permit Pierpont Community
& Technical College to assess additional tuition for credit hours
beyond twelve in a regular term, to implement a per-credit hour
tuition demonstration pilot project.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.